San Francisco — General Motors Co.’s Cruise autonomous ride-share service left ‘Frisco last year after one of its driverless shuttles dragged a pedestrian, but the void has been quickly filled by Google’s Waymo One, which now dominates the city’s robotaxi market.
Waymo’s headless Jaguar iPace crossovers are ubiquitous across the city, and I hailed multiple rides on a recent visit. The white Jaguars have become another bucket-list item in this tourist-friendly city filled with destinations like the Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street and Ghirardelli Square.
In a metropolis at the hub of the electronics revolution, robocars fit in with Tesla Cybertrucks, hotel delivery robots and electric scooters. While Waymo and Zoox have also tested here for years, GM’s Cruise was the first to implement a driverless, app-based service in June 2022. Putting its controversial tenure behind it, Cruise is back testing again and its driverless Chevy Bolts are expected to return soon.
It will return to an autonomous landscape that is changing fast.
“It feels like Waymo is part of the culture here,” said Elan Levin, 37, an early Cruise adopter who is a regular Waymo One customer. “Initially, autonomous cars felt weird . . . but now Waymo has opened their drives to all times of day. Waymo has eaten Cruise’s lunch.”
Waymo launched its first driverless service in Tempe, Arizona, in 2020 and now services 315 square miles of Metro Phoenix. Armed with its Arizona learnings, Waymo’s San Francisco operations (covering 55 square miles) have been trouble-free. Had Cruise’s rollout gone more smoothly, it might be on the same track as Waymo today.
I ordered a Waymo One at my hotel on a Tuesday in the growing Mission Bay district two blocks south of Oracle Park where the Giants play baseball. I had the Waymo app on my phone after multiple trips using the service in the Phoenix area.
The app works like those for Uber or Lyft: set your destination, confirm your ride, wait for the car. Unlike Uber and Lyft, Waymo One is more discriminating about where it picks up/drops off customers — avoiding tight spaces that human drivers can intuitively negotiate. For example, Waymo would not pick me up in my hotel’s driveway. It asked to meet across the street.
My destination? The San Francisco Cartoon Museum near Ghirardelli Square. Feeling peckish, I directed the Jaguar to an In-and-Out restaurant nearby — California’s famed fast food burger joint. When in Rome . . .
Waymo entered the San Francisco market in ‘18, testing self-driving electric vehicles on crowded city streets with technicians on board. I’ve been a passenger in every iteration of Google’s autonomous journey since its inception in 2014, when the company outfitted Lexus RX models with autonomous hardware. The Lexus gave way to the Google bot prototype in 2015 (immortalized by Oatmeal.com as the “Skynet Marshmallow Bumper Bot”). The service rebranded as Waymo in 2016, outfitted an armada of Chrysler minivans, and entered Metro Phoenix. I’ve also experienced Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software across the Bay Area.
I hailed a GM Cruise Bolt in November 2022 — not long after it had begun public service.
“Waymos go to every corner of the city. Cruise only served a narrow slice of the city — and didn’t go downtown,” said Levin. “Waymo even goes to Stonestown Galleria (mall) at the south end. They have the big Whole Foods market, which is where the people with cars go.”
Cruise’s Bolt bots didn’t receive approval to run 24/7. In my ‘22 visit, I could only board a Cruise from 10 p.m.-5:30 a.m. Autonomous cars work best at night, when their sensors don’t have to cope with sun glare, and the Cruise machines did a healthy business ferrying tipsy customers home from bars. But if it rained, the Cruises stopped, dumping customers on the street to hail an Uber.
Waymos are licensed to drive 24/7 through rain, sleet or gloom of night.
My Waymo took 13 minutes to arrive at the curb — about three times as long as a comparable, human-driven Uber. In my four rides over two days, that disparity was consistent. Rates, however, were competitive. Indeed, my 35-minute ride to In-and-Out would cost $13.85, cheaper than the $20 Uber alternative.
I hopped into the rear seat and an automated voice welcomed me. “Hey there, Henry!” I pushed START RIDE in the rear console screen and we were off, the steering wheel spinning this way and that as we negotiated San Fran’s complicated streets.
The cabin was noticeably different than my previous Bolt and Waymo rides — or even the typical human-driven New York taxicab. No plexiglass shield separated me from the front compartment. Passengers may be buckled in anywhere but the driver’s seat. The wheel is pasted with a PLEASE KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF THE WHEEL, THE WAYMO DRIVER IS IN CONTROL AT ALL TIMES. If sensors detect a violator, the car won’t move.
Waymo One employs about 300 vehicles in Frisco (700 vehicles nationally with Waymo targeting new markets in Austin, Texas, and Los Angeles). With its Bay Area volume, Waymo provides credible 24/7 service to app-holders in downtown, Daly City, Broadmoor and Colma. When I rode Cruise two years ago, its smaller 80-model fleet limited app access.
Waymo One does not yet provide service to/from San Francisco International Airport.
After a burger and cartoons, I strolled up to Ghirardelli for sweets. Bags in hand, I ordered a Waymo to return to my hotel. A family of four ordered next to me, and both Jaguars arrived at the same time.
On the 35-minute trek back, the iPace negotiated the city’s complex roadscape. Scooters and motorbikes traveled alongside me in a designated lane. Families crossed with strollers. Human cars popped out of parking garages. The Waymos shared the road with remarkable deftness. On a two-lane street, my robot deftly shot the gap between traffic and a curbside dumpster to make a right turn on red.
The Jaguar bristled with hardware: 29 cameras, five lidar sensors, six radar sensors. Waymo began offering fully autonomous rides (without a trained human specialist behind the wheel) through its app to limited members of the public in San Francisco in November 2022. In August 2023 — over a year after Cruise opened its service — Waymo was authorized to charge for rides.
“Autonomous vehicles are going to be a slow rollout,” said Stephanie Brinley, S&P Global associate director of auto intelligence. “We estimate there will only be 230,000 units by 2034. It’s important, but it’s on a slow burn.”
Waymo cut its teeth in Phoenix, offering rides to suburbanites on wide neighborhood streets. On San Francisco’s steep, narrow streets, a variety of customers flock to the service.
“It’s not just tech folks, it’s older folks,” said Levin. “Some of my senior neighbors are still in COVID lockdown mode and they feel safer when they go out in a Waymo and don’t have to share the car with a strange driver.”
At 5 p.m. Wednesday, I booked a ride to California Pizza Kitchen, near Union Square at 3rd and Stevenson about 25 minutes away. Wait time: five minutes. Cost: $15.02 during a busy Wednesday rush hour. I like CPK because I can bring my computer bag, spread out in a booth, and get work done while I eat.
Had I needed the trunk for a larger bag, it was available — an improvement over the Pacifica and Chevy Bolt shuttles with their hatchbacks off-limits due to computer equipment. Waymo has made strides in space management.
As GM looks to return to San Francisco, it has shelved its large Cruise Origin — a sort of autonomous trolley car on wheels — to focus on the Bolt hatchback.
“Cruise made an early play, and they can recover from their problems,” Brinley said. “The (pedestrian) accident was not the vehicle’s fault, though Cruise management was not as forthcoming as was needed. All these services are learning that coming into a new city is not as easily accomplished as envisioned. Waymo is ahead on consumer interaction, but people have short memories.”
Robocar advancement has been relentless. My first autonomous Lexus ride was limited to Google’s campus and required two engineers in the front seat. The 2015 Bumper Bot was driverless but limited to a rooftop Google parking lot. In ‘17, Uber’s autonomous Volvo ventured out into Pittsburgh streets requiring two drivers in front. Waymo now covers two major western cities.
The Jag never exceeded 25 mph. The next frontier is highway speeds on I-280 to the airport 14 miles south.
With darkness blanketing the city at 6:39 p.m., I ordered another Waymo to return to my hotel. Wait time 11 minutes, cost $21.91. Stevenson Street was choked with traffic as the Jag’s headlights slowly made their way towards me.
The iPace swung around the corner and I heard the doors unlock — sensing my phone. Like my previous three rides, the interior was spotless, pleasant.
“If I’m in a hurry, I still take an Uber. But I feel safer in the Waymo,” said customer Levin. “We know the problems with gig drivers working two and three shifts. With Waymo, I trust a billion dollars of technology. They truly feel much safer. I get into a real mixed bag of ride-share vehicles. With Waymo, I have never experienced a stinky vehicle. Never seen anything that wasn’t supposed to be there.”
Like the Cruise Bolt, the iPace has a screen in back with a variety of music stations on offer. “Pick a vibe for your ride” said the display, offering choices including: Pop Top 40, Disney Hits, Kids Pop, and Bollywood. NPR was the only news station offered. Hey, it’s the Left Coast.
“I bring my dog along with me,” said Levin. “If I try that in an Uber, sometimes I get the hairy eyeball from the driver. The Waymo feels premium, and you can shut yourself off from the world.”
Zero-60 video: News auto columnist Henry Payne in the autonomous Waymo Jaguar
Zero-60 video: News auto columnist Henry Payne in the autonomous Waymo Jaguar
I was struck by how comfortable San Franciscans were with the cars. Few stared. At sidewalks, pedestrians checked that the Waymo stopped — then strolled in front of it. Tourists stood out by taking pictures.
If you want to watch the robot cars return to their parking lot in SoMa (south of Market Street) there is a live YouTube channel for that.
Only twice did my Waymo slam on the brakes — both times when a human car lurched out of a public garage into our path. The Jaguar stopped and the human car sped on its way. I didn’t witness any ghost braking as happens with Tesla FSD.
Waymo One has been a target of vandalism. Troublemakers have figured out that a cone over the roof lidar — or on the front hood — will disable the Jaguar. Levin isn’t concerned: “Trust and safety are a big reason locals have embraced it — especially women and the elderly. San Francisco recently had a big concert and ran into a fake Uber problem that sometimes take advantages of people. That’s not a problem with Waymo.”
Analyst Brinley said that, despite the technological progress, the biggest challenge is how to make money.
“What’s the real business case? It’s far more expensive to outfit these cars with technology than it is to hire a driver,” she said. “Right now, there is no business case. These cars are doing a lot of deadhead miles without passengers.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at [email protected] or @HenryEPayne.
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